THE EXPERIMENT STATION. 137 



Conclusions. 



From these investigations I arrive at these conclusions: 



1. Surface ditching in conjunction with deforesting may increase floods 

 and contribute to droughts. 



2. Tile draining may increase flood at the " break-up" in spring when 

 the water accumulated in the surface soil by the joint action of frost and 

 soil capillarity during the winter, and the surface accumulations in the form 

 of snow are suddenly set free by a rapid thaw. 



3. During the warm months tile draining tends to mitigate flood by taking 

 up the excessive rainfall and holding it in a capillary form, keeping back 

 the sudden flow that would pass over the surface of the soil if not absorbed 

 by it, and escape by flood; and mitigating summer drought by increased 

 capacity of the soil to hold water in capillary form, and to draw upon the 

 subsoil water supply by reason of the increased capillary power of such soil 

 produced by tile draining. 



VII. ENSILAGE. 



The subject of ensilage has assumed such importance both with the 

 farmer and the stock-grower, that anything connected with it will command 

 their attention. So much Indian corn is raised for this purpose that it is a 

 matter of interest to know at what period of growth to cut the corn so as to 

 get the best results in the silo, and also to find the relative composition and 

 food value of the stalks cut at any given time, and the ensilage made from 

 the same. 



An investigation bearing on this subject was undertaken in 1888, and the 

 results, as far as anything decisive was reached, were given in Bulletin 

 No. 49. But this work was not satisfactory, mainly because the untimely 

 frost put a stop to the work before the field of corn assigned for the experi- 

 ment had reached such maturity as the investigation contemplated, viz. : 

 from tasseling of the corn to complete ripeness of the grain. It was there- 

 fore decided to repeat the experiment in 1889, following essentially the 

 same plan as in 1888. The experiment began on the 10th day of August, 

 the corn on a measured plat of ground being cut, weighed carefully, 

 a portion being reserved to determine the amount of solid matter per acre, 

 and for analysis, and the rest placed in a small silo. This was repeated at 

 periods of about 3ix days till the corn stalks were fully ripe, seven speci- 

 mens of fodder and ensilage having been secured in this way. When the 

 ensilage is ripe, the material will be analyzed and the results of both sets of 

 analysis — of the corn stalks and of the ensilage — will be given in a future 

 bulletin. The excessive drought of this season will disturb the investiga- 

 tion to some degree, but it is hoped the results will yet be of real value 

 to the farmer and stock feeder. 



VIII. MISCELLANEOUS ANALYSES. 



A variety of materials come to this department for analysis, and the 

 results of such investigations are often of interest, and sometimes of profit 

 to our people. 



